Full Celebration! Very First Photos

Here is how I am going to end my tribute to the Full Celebration in Kentucky -- a wonderful wonderful vacation experience. I am closing with my very first photos at that place -- a photo of that adorable Welsh pony who got me excited for teaching Renny and the host of the place, this very bossy cat!

Full Celebration! Blessed Morning

Namaste.

Full Celebration! Early Mornings

The driving center has the most wonderful tobacco barn converted into a showplace quality facility. It was like being in a cathedral or temple to spend early morning with the happy snuffling chomping horses.

Full Celebration! Baby Thoroughbreds!

These are fresh newborn foals and yet they look like giants! Wonderful thoroughbred babies!

Full Celebration! Baby Thoroughbreds!

Namaste.

Full Celebration! Baby Thoroughbreds!

On my first morning in Kentucky, I took a beautiful drive through the countryside before my morning driving lessons. I stopped at the Thoroughbred Center. I visited a horse farm. I just entertained myself, driving in a countryside which had nothing but beautiful farms filled with beautiful horses. And I was driving along this country road in the middle of nowhere on Newton Pike beneath a road lined with an arbor of trees. I got lost, so I stopped for a moment to collect myself. And that's when I processed that this field was filled with happy mares and their new babies. So, I walked up to the fenceline to get a few photos!

Full Celebration! The Smiling Girl and Dressage

I liked watching this lady practice. She looked so relaxed and had soft hands, and she had a mega-watt smile! The smile never left her face, even in practice.

Full Celebration! Dressage at Rolex

So, on the Friday after my two back-to-back riding lessons, I went to Rolex where the weather was gorgeaus and I watched some dressage. In this photo and video, you see the workout arena. I love hanging out there and see them working on suppleness, bend, energy, balance, impulsion, etc.

Full Celebration! Field Staff at Rolex

Okay, one of the really wonderful things about Rolex is just walking the course and seeing people. They have mounted police officers and they have big fat ponies with hunt gear, and then they have elegant people like this woman, riding side saddle. So, the horses who guard the trail for the eventers are even wonderful, not to mention the very famous people who are guarding the fences -- I saw Sally O'Connor (David O'Connor's mom) up so close that I could have touched her. She's an amazing woman! She actually took her two kids for a ride across our entire country! No wonder David became an Olympic equestrian athlete!

Full Celebration! Bruce Davidson, Sr.

The gentleman riding this beautiful grey is Bruce Davidson, Sr., a true super star!

Full Celebration! Galloping through the Shade

I just love this photo. Look how this beautiful and accomplished team focus on their task.

Full Celebration! Look at Those Ladies

I think the expressions on those ladies by the van say it all. Their jaws are dropped in amazement. Mine probably was too!

Full Celebration! Go, Go, Go!

Namaste!

Full Celebration! Close Up at Rolex

The horses run by so closely that you could actually reach out and touch them. Such power and strength and grace and beauty.

Full Celebration! Flying at Rolex

Talk about courage!

Full Celebration! More Sunken Road at Rolex!

I just can't believe how much trust and bravery these equines have to jump down into a hole and then power up all their strength to jump on out! What amazing gorgeaus creatures. Namaste.

Full Celebration! The Sunken Road at Rolex

Namaste.

Full Celebration! Such Beautiful Creatures

Namaste.

Full Celebration! The Good Witch's Trust!

Here are more photos from that sequence of The Good Witch's fall. You know that she and Jennifer Wooten-Dafoe are close and trust each other. As soon as "Pooh," as she's called, stood up, her entire demeanor displayed her opinion that Jennifer was supposed to take care of her. She stood perfectly still, but you could tell she was annoyed. She kicked her back hooves into the soil, without taking any steps, because she was mad about her slipped boots. And she waited for her mom to decide what to do.

The news reported that thought she was taken by ambulance, she was fine. She earned 7th last year at Rolex, so this fall was disappointing. But the news was that she just bumped her knee on a mis-step. I *saw* that bump. Even as she jumped at the Double Diamonds, I saw that she dropped a leg and it got caught on the fence and she rolled on over her dropped leg. But what a champion girl. She was wonderful in the way she stood up and turned to her teammate for support. And she's going to compete in July!

In more sad news, a horse died during competition -- Kingpin. He was halfway through the cross country when he collapsed after a jump and died quickly. His post mortem suggests that he had a natural rupture of a major artery unrelated to his exertions.

Full Celebration! The Good Witch's Rolex Fall

On Saturday of Rolex, the Cross Country Day, we had extraordinarily beautiful weather. I'd had a great day -- morning thoroughbred workouts, a driving lesson with Breimer, and then a jaunt to the KHP. Here was the only terrible event of the entire weekend. I was at a jump and saw The Good Witch, ridden by Jennifer Wooten, take a sharp fall and roll. She was chosen at the number 1 eventing mare of 2008, so you know she's a competitive top notch girl.